The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-11-03
HISTORIC EASSEIN.
a Visit to q Dead and Ruined PortuSus
City in India.

City in India.
After frugal breakfast, / engaged
bullock cart for the four miles and
half to the town or fort of old BaSsein.
There are no springs to the typical
! bullock cart, and your best position is
to sit flat on the bottom of the con-
trivaDce. If you have tuft of hay for
cushion, that is clear gain. My two
little bullocks started off in frisky style,
and in an hour I was within the mar
row and winding streets of the town
which has grown up outside the old
| one, and yet must have had its be-
ginnings even during the existence of
the original Bassein. The scenery
from the station TO BaSSein proper is
charming. and 1 thoroughly enjoyed
it, notwithstanding the many and
almost diSlocating motions of the cart.
Fields of rice and various other grain
stretch out on either hand. Here and
there was pond which was all radiant
with the sacred lotus in full flower and
fragrance. One of the most conspicuous
objects on getting fairly into the village
was 4 ruined church. Its wall and roof
were entiT,, but it was in wretched
condition. Its windows were curiosity,
the first had seen in India where the
panes were of the pearl-oyster shell.
cut thin, and about an inch and half
square. This was the Portuguese win
dow. The labor of making great WIN
dOws of such small pieces of shell neatly
cut and smoothed must have been
immense, even for one building. At
least one-half the light was oDstructed
by the she'll strata, and when one adds
to this the wooden framing for the
siderable addition to the semi-opaque-
ness. But then this is India, and it is
always study to keep out the glare of
the sun.
soon left the town behind. and
came upon Il rising ground by Il wind
ing road. through thick grove of
mango and peepul trees. on to the
left stood the grim ruins of the old fort.
l had now crossed the bridge, and So
had passed upon the island of Bassein.
which is about four miles long and two
miles broad. This. nearly three Gen.
turtles ago, was avery paradise of Portu-
guese enterprise and luxury on the one
hand, and of Jesuit worldly wisdom on
on the other. Any way that l might
turn brought me face to face with some
vast ruined cathedral. Now it was
only tho bare walls without ceiling or
roof, and then found myself walking
over the marble slabs. with nearly
effaced inscriptions, which covered the
dust of Portuguese ecclesiaStics and
fidalgOs. The dead underlay the entire
nave and choir of the church. Some of
the towers leaned ut threatening angles,
and vet in several cases it seemed safe
enough to climb to the top of the wall
and overlook this weird scene of ruin.
There were arches which rose in grace
full curves from one side of the portal
to the other. Yet at the keystone there
was depression in many instances
which made it the part of wisdom not
to linger directly in the neighborhood
of any of them. Occasionally the CEN
trail part of the wall had fallen outright,
and left the Jagged ends of the ruin on
either hand.
Great pains had been taken to orna-
ment the choir. Here was IN elaborate
sculpture, only fragments of which
could be seen in scattered pediments
and capitals, and bits of the carved
shafts themselves. Where the walls
had been less disturbed by the ravages
of war and the elements there still
remained tablets in memory of eccleSi-
astic or civic officers whose lamp of
life had gone out here, far away from
the dear Portugal which they left be-
hind, but hoped in every case to see
again and die beneath the western
sun.-Bish0p Hurst, IN Harper'S MagG-
zine.